Allison Scott

ISM-Period 6

Michelle. HEARING AIDS VS COCHLEAR IMPLANTS. Sight & Sound Insights - The

Foundation for Sight & Sound Is a Registered 501c3 Not for Profit Organization. Our

Mission Is to Enhance the Quality of Life for Individuals with Vision and/or Hearing

Challenges. Our Lead Programs Are the Help America Hear and The Library Project.

Visit Us at Www.foundationforsightandsound.org, Word Press, 2012,

www.foundationforsightandsound.org/wordpress/?page_id=636.

CI implanted surgically in the cochlea and brain

Deaf people with CI have sensorineural hearing loss in cochlea
Cochlea have cilia that move hydrolyzed sound through cochlea
Most sensorineural loss occurs when cochleas cilia do not function properly
CI also much more expensive
Auditory nerve that connects to the cochlea sends signals to the brain
Brain interprets signals as sounds
CI should only be implanted in people who are completely Deaf or very hard of hearing
CI takes away all of hearing, if any
Only a few CI surgeons in America are capable of preserving a persons hearing when
surgically implanting the CI
HA can be freely removed and put in since not surgically implanted
HA meant to help a person hear better, but still not completely
Both CI and hearing aids still do not give a person total hearing
A hearing aid consists of an outer shell, or casing, microphones or sometimes dual
microphones on the top of the hearing aid that pick-up sound. (Michelle 2)
More than one type of HA (ranges from completely in the ear canal to around the outer
ear)
Since there are many reasons people cant hear, there are many types of devices to help
hearing, and, in order to work, the whole anatomy of the ear and the device must work
together to function, hearing clearly with the devices has not been achieved yet.
Hearing impaired people who either use a device to hear or have a little bit of hearing
have all different levels of what the can and cannot hear. For example, one person may be
able to hear whisper sounds but cant hear letters like z or v. Another type is people
can hear an airplane but cant hear the tick of a watch.

This was a helpful website for my project because it gave me more information about hearing
aids and the parts, however, most of the other information were things I already knew.
 Allison Scott
ISM-Period 6
Life Is ON. Phonak, Sonova, www.phonak.com/us/en.html/.

2 main categories all hearing loss falls under: congenital (a person with hearing loss
since birth because of genetics or other diseases given to them) and acquired (result
from an illness after birth or damage)
Then 3 more categories of where the hearing loss is: outer ear, middle ear, and inner ear
Outer ear: easily fixable, usually only otitis media
Middle ear: depending on situation can be fixable, inflammation of ear canal, otitis
media, stiffening of ossicles bones
Inner ear: most of the time not completely fixable other times not fixable, most
common place for hearing loss to occur, medication or skull fractures can be a cause,
Fine hair cells in the inner ear become damaged and affect the transmission of signals
to the auditory nerves. Usually, inner ear hearing loss cannot be addressed medically
but can be corrected with hearing aids. (Phonak 6)
4 different levels of hearing loss (height of sound wise)
Mild hearing loss: soft sounds are difficult to hear, in noisy environments it is hard to
hear
Moderate hearing loss: soft and normally loud sounds are difficult to hear or not heard,
understanding someone talking in a loud environment becomes very difficult
Severe hearing loss: group conversations become harder since they require more effort
in speaking louder, one on one conversations have to be conducted very loudly
Profound hearing loss: can hear some very very loud noises, communication one on one
or in a group is not possible
HA cannot have any moisture in them so most come with a dryer
HA and CI can be made in all different colors and sizes
HA that are completely in the canal are less effective than HA that go around the ear
Newer HA use Bluetooth to connect to FM systems
Also, some of the newest HA can connect to a persons phone and be accessed and
controlled through the phone

This website was very informative about the types of hearing loss and hearing in general,
however, there was a limited amount of this information, and was more targeted to talking about
what to do if you have hearing loss or how to help those you know with hearing loss.
 Allison Scott
ISM-Period 6

Gailey, Lorraine. What Are FM Systems? Hearing Link, Hearing Dogs for Deaf People,

www.hearinglink.org/living/loops-equipment/fm-systems/what-are-fm-systems/.

FM Systems are wireless assistive hearing devices that enhance the use of hearing
aid(s), cochlear implants and also assist people who are hard of hearing but do not wear
hearing aids, in particular over distance and in noisy environments. (Gailey 1)
FM stands for Frequency Modulation
For those who wear hearing aids with the FM systems it is more helpful because the FM
systems takes out all the background noise making it easier to hear and understand what
the person speaking is saying
Some FM systems are portable so people with the system and a HA can take it anywhere
This gives them the ability to communicate with anyone without having to use ASL or
only understanding some of what someone says
The two main parts of an FM system is the transmitter and the receiver
The transmitter is what the person/people talk into
The receiver receives the sound from the transmitter and sends it to the persons HA
The receiver for HA in the FM systems used at most schools (the roger) is called a boot
and is attached to the end of a HA
A boot is only about a centimeter long and attaches to the end of a HA
FM systems are powered usually by rechargeable batteries
Can operate from between 12 and 20 hours
Also, in classrooms or work environments that have several speakers, the FM system has
a group mode that can be put in the middle of the room and the person with the HA can
hear everyone
More than one FM system can be used at one time, so if there are 2 speakers or teachers
they can both use and FM system and the person with the HA can hear them both
Can operate at distances between 15 meters and 50 meters
There are FM systems for those who have CI and usually they can use the same ones as
those for HA, but some versions of CI have to use a special FM system
The main frequency transmission bands are 863MHz to 865MHz and 169MHz to
176MHz. (Gailey 2)

This website was very informative about FM systems, hearing aids, and cochlear
implants and gave a lot of specific information about all three things, which will be very
helpful for my project.